


Eventful Christmas at the burrow

by Zoam



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1996, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, F/M, How Do I Tag, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:29:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27475810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoam/pseuds/Zoam
Summary: Crashing someone's Christmas dinner hadn't been on Artemis' to-do list when he started the day, especially not this one. But now, as he stood in front of the burrow with Charlie's unconscious body over his shoulder he couldn't find it in himself to care.He only hoped Bill would ask questions first and fire spells later.
Relationships: Charlie Weasley/Original Male Character(s), Fleur Delacour/ Bill Weasley (mentioned)
Kudos: 31





	Eventful Christmas at the burrow

**Author's Note:**

> JKR owns Harry Potter.

The burrow was surrounded by a thick layer of snow, even the gnomes couldn’t be seen running around for once. In the middle of the white, flaky blanket the very unusual building stood surprisingly free of it. It was almost as if magic kept the snow from reaching the house. From afar everything was quiet, only the distant bell rings from the town church in Ottery St. Catchpole could be heard. But if one stepped closer to the burrow they could hear the happy chattering and, if they dared to catch a look inside the window, they would see a group of people, who all wore bright smiles on their faces. Outside dark times were lurking in the shadows but inside it was as if time was frozen.

————

Mrs. Weasley had really outdone herself with this year's Christmas dinner. At least that was what her family had told her repeatedly. Normally she would have been delighted to hear this but right now she was more focused on the fact that she had almost all of her family with her, safe and sound. The only ones missing were Charlie, as it often was the case, and Percy. It had always been a thorn in her eyes that Charlie only visited on rare occasions and this year was not different. Surely he could leave his dragons alone for one night and join the family for Christmas? Especially in times like this, Molly thought with a huff. Even the quarter-Veela and French girlfriend of her oldest son Bill was with them. To no one's surprise, a fact Mrs. Weasley wasn’t happy about. Percy, who left the family to make a career at the ministry, wasn’t there for obvious reasons. Mrs. Weasley didn’t like to think about Percy, the whole fiasco would only make her cry again. While she was reminiscing about the misfortune of not having all of her family together she missed the change of the family clock.

Charlie’s name, which hadn’t been on “home” in quite a while, he was still always busy with his dragons, was now on “mortal peril”. That on itself might not have been too unusual, given his choice of career, but what was indeed very unusual was that the clock hand switched to “travelling” a while later and then the clock hand slowly switched to “home”.

In between all the chattering which filled the dining room, there was a distant sound of someone apparating. The quiet crack made everyone go still. Once it had been clear that the possibility of a war came closer, Arthur, with the help of Bill, had created anti-apparition wards around the house. Which made it almost impossible to apparate anywhere near it.  
Even the family members couldn’t apparate inside the wards. 

Bill was the first one up on his feet, his work as a curse breaker and the missions for the Order often required fast reflexes which now came to show. “I’m going to check outside, make sure that we don’t get some unwanted visitors,” Bill said while turning towards the door, wand in hand.  
He didn’t get that far. Before he could even take a single step the kitchen door opened. In the door frame stood a man with short, unusual messy, brown hair. The man’s robe had holes in it, some of them still smoking regardless of the cold December weather. Whatever had happened to them must not have occurred too long ago. He also sported a bloody gash on his wand arm, the other one was slung around a seemingly unconscious man with red hair, bound back in a ponytail. The redhead was covered in scratches. With a feeling of dread settling in his stomach, Bill realized that he knew those two men.

Everyone had drawn their wand upon the sudden arrival of the two men but now, as the brown haired man looked up and his eyes met Bill’s, Bill lowered his wand, shocked. Before he could say anything, Molly’s anxious voice boomed through the room “Charlie?!”. Her exclaim caused the rest of the group to startle. There were varying looks of surprise on the groups faces. Harry and Hermione looked mostly wary and confused, both not close to Charlie and having never seen the other man before. They held themselves back and silently observed the scene. Fred and George had jumped up at their mother’s exclamation and were now staring at the door. Both of their faces identically grim. Ron still sat beside Harry and Ginny, colour rapidly leaving his face. Ginny on the other hand was half up from her seat and stared intensely at the man, who was unmistakably not her brother, trying to figure out if he was a threat or not. She also seemed to wonder what had happened to Charlie to leave him in such a state. She didn’t doubt that Charlie got injured quite a lot because of his work, his scars spoke for themselves after all, but never had he been brought back home because of one.  
Finally Bill seemed to find his voice again. “Artemis? Are you- what is going on?” Bill stepped slowly closer to the door while speaking.

Upon hearing the familiar sound of his name leaving Bill’s mouth, the man, Artemis looked slightly relieved. “So sorry to intrude and ruin the feast but this was the closest safe place I could think of,” he said, trying to stand a bit straighter but ultimately grimacing and looking over at Charlie’s unconscious form.

Behind Bill, Molly looked ready to run over and throw herself at Charlie but Arthur held her back, still fixating Artemis with a wary stare. Noticing everyone’s eyes on him Artemis shifted uncomfortably on the spot. He looked around the familiar room, after all the time he hadn’t stepped foot into it, it still looked the same. “So - um, well,” he began to speak hesitantly. Before he could continue Bill held up a hand signaling him to stop.  
“What is the name of the girl who rejected me in my sixth year only to later come back and try to win me over through insulting my friends?” Bill said while he was surveying him with a searching look on his face. Behind him the family’s wary faces changed into ones of confusion and incredulity. Fleur no longer watched the new arrivals but decided to rather stare at Bill’s back. Fred and George exchanged a look which promised later investigation about “perfect prefect Bill” getting rejected. Bill didn’t move, seemingly not noticing or caring about the glances directed at his back.  
“...Emily Tyler, she tried to get elected to lead the Celestial ball decoration committee for my year even though she wouldn’t have been able to attend it. Plus she tried to spread some nasty rumors about my date,” a dark look crossed over Artemis face at the memory.  
Bill released a breath. He put his wand back into its holder and said, “I swear to Merlin if you two had been impostors I would have kicked your-” he stopped and hurried over getting on Charlie’s other side.  
Together they carried him to the couch where they carefully led him down. Once Charlie was safely deposited on it Bill turned back to the rest “Guys that’s Artemis, Mom, Dad, twins you probably remember him. For the rest, you can trust him, he’s on our side... or well at least not on the other side”.  
Ginny raised her eyebrows at Bill’s last statement “Why did you say it like that?”.  
She looked back and forth between Bill and Artemis before sitting back down.  
Bill chuckled lightly. “Uhm well, he doesn’t really .. do sides?” He scratched his neck and shrugged his shoulders with a sheepish look on his face. Before Ginny could ask further questions, Molly once again began to speak. “That’s not important right now. What happened to you two?”  
Artemis sighed and avoided looking at her. “Can we heal him first? I will explain afterwards.” He gestured back to the still unconscious Charlie. “I can do it myself but if one of you had some dittany that would be great,” he said.  
To his immense relief Molly disappeared into the kitchen and soon after emerged with a vial of dittany essence from it. She stopped in front of him, looking him up and down. Artemis felt like she was trying to intimidate him which was far from what he remembered her being like, he assumed the prospect of war changed people. “Why exactly should I trust you with healing my son?” she asked.  
Artemis’ eyes widened slightly and for a second he looked surprised. “I am trained in healing. You surely know Madam Pomfrey? I learned a lot from her,” he said while finally meeting her eyes. He had a determined look on his face, which promised that he wouldn’t back down. The others who weren’t familiar with him slowly realized that his awkward shuffling and avoidance of eye contact did not mean that he was scared.  
Mrs. Weasley slowly began to nod, her face losing some of the tightness. “Alright, alright dear but only because I know you.” she smiled slightly before she stopped to examine him closer. “But what about yours, dear? Shouldn’t you heal yourself first?” she asked, getting closer to him. She appeared to have switched back into her normal worried and fussing self.  
Artemis furrowed his eyebrows, confused. “What do you mean, mine?” he asked.  
Behind him Bill let out an amused snort. “Reyes, your robes look like you tossed them onto smoking coals before you put them on and you can’t actually mean to tell us you didn’t notice the blood trickling down your arm? Not to mention that that gash on your arm looks nasty.”  
Artemis finally looked down and realized just how right Bill was about his robes. He also, in fact had not noticed the gash and blood before Bill brought it up but now lifted his arm up to examine the wound, which still hadn’t stopped bleeding. Shrugging, he silently held his hand out for the vial. 

Bill sighed before taking the vial out of his mother’s hand and gestured to Artemis to get back to the couch where he uncorked it and waited for Artemis to continue. After leaning over Charlie to take a closer look at his wounds, Artemis, for the first time since his arrival, drew his wand. Bill had always thought that Artemis' wand was fascinating. It was covered in silver runes which were even more pronounced on the deep black wood. If he remembered correctly, Artemis had once mentioned that Mr. Olivander had reacted in a very strange manner when the wand chose Artemis, even stranger than the wand maker normally was. He shook his head, it was no use to get lost in thoughts, especially not now and not in ones which easily could have been a product of his imagination. Artemis rarely talked about his wand, he barely even used it, if Bill was honest, at least not if others were around. Even in front of Bill, Artemis had always looked slightly uncomfortable to use it after the whispers about his “weird” wand had started. That didn’t mean that Artemis didn’t like magic or was bad at it. No, it was usually the other way around. Where Bill had needed hours of studying and practicing to learn a new spell Artemis often only had to take a single look at one of their teachers or into the required spell book to perform it perfectly. During their Hogwarts years, this often caused Bill to feel a little jealous but now he simply admired Artemis for his natural magical talent. In the end the tumours might have even been the reason why Artemis decided not to join Bill as a curse-breaker once he had finished his education a year after him.  
But seeing Artemis' wand now didn’t make him feel the usual giddy feeling of anticipation, he felt dread. If Artemis deemed it necessary to use his wand, in front of so many people no less, Charlie might be more hurt than Bill had originally thought. 

With a flick of his wand Artemis pursed his mouth slightly. He looked over at Bill before flicking his wand again to get rid of all the dirt and blood around the scratches which still littered Charlie's body. He then reached for the dittany and started to apply it on the now clean wounds. After he finished the application on his face he hesitated before looking to the others, who were still mingling around. “We have to get him out of his robes, otherwise I can’t take care of all his wounds.” he looked pointedly in the direction of the girl with brown locks. Hermione blushed slightly at that and cleared her throat before nodding. “Yes, I doubt Charlie would appreciate having other people he isn’t familiar with around looking at him in his underwear.” She grabbed Harry and Ron and started to usher them in the direction of the stairs. Ginny glanced back at Charlie once more and then decided to follow them. Fred and George took that as their cue to leave as well, muttering something about a new product idea. The extendable ear in the flower pot went unnoticed by the remaining people. If Molly happened to find it she surely would have another lecture going before the twins could escape back to their shop, but for now it was hidden. 

Molly lingered in the back, watching her injured son with worry until Arthur put a reassuring hand on her back. She straightened and looked over at Fleur, which hadn’t moved once since Bill had identified Artemis and Charlie. “Would you help me with the dishes? I’m sure they can handle it” her voice left no room for argument but Fleur did not look thrilled at the thought of leaving the room. Bill had never mentioned someone named Artemis and but now that the man was here it was clear that the two were close. They looked content working together silently, not in the need of using words to communicate. Finally she nodded and reluctantly followed Mrs. Weasley into the kitchen, the dishes following them. Soon after Arthur left the house in the direction of the shack. He was probably trying to work on one of his newest muggle inventions without Mrs. Weasley getting a hang of it. 

Artemis’ posture relaxed noticeably after everyone had left. He looked over at Bill. “Could you hold him down? One of his ribs is broken and I don’t want to do more damage than good with a botched up healing spell.”  
Bill looked at his friend and nodded before stepping closer to his brother to hold him down while Artemis cast the spell. Artemis looked at Charlie’s limp form before closing his eyes for a second. He took a deep breath in and out before moving his wand, in the all too familiar movement of the healing spell he had learned a long time ago, and focusing on the incantation. He winced at the pained sound Charlie made upon having his broken rib shift back into place.

Charlie’s now scrunched up face indicated that he was about to wake up so Artemis signaled Bill to not let go of him. He continued with vanishing Charlie’s tattered clothes, leaving Charlie in his underwear. Bill looked down at his brother's body and took notice of the dark bruises around his ribcage. It was hard not to stare at the other bloody scratches and gashes which covered his upper body and part of his legs, they seemed to be worse than the ones Artemis had already taken care of. Bill could only wonder what Artemis hid underneath his own robes. 

Finally, while Artemis was busy covering Charlie’s stomach and chest with dittany, Charlie opened his eyes. They were unfocused at first and Charlie had to blink several times before things came into focus but he was conscious. Conscious apparently did not mean that his brain yet processed what his eyes saw. “Reyes? Am I dead? I feel like a dragon landed on my body,” he said before noticing Bill. He blinked confused. “Bill? What are you doing in Romania...wait is this the burrow? Wha-” Charlie looked around himself and tried to sit up only to realize that Bill was still holding him down. “You shouldn’t get up yet, one of your ribs was broken. Just what have you been up to little brother?”  
Charlie started to nod before a look of fear took over his features. “Wait Bill where is- I have to.” He tried to get up again, this time his movements were way more frantic. “Weasley would you stop moving? I am trying to apply the dittany on you and not your family’s couch.” Artemis had moved away as soon as Charlie had tried to sit up and was now looking up at him with an annoyed look on his face. One of his hands was still closed around his wand, the other one around the vial of dittany essence, which was now significantly less full.  
Upon hearing his voice Charlie relaxed again and let out a relieved breath. “Oh thank Merlin.” he slowly sunk back into the couch cushions. Bill’s lips switched at that and his eyes glinted amused. Having his patient back in a lying position Artemis proceeded with his application of dittany on the remaining wounds.  
Charlie startled slightly at that, looking down on himself and finally noticing his apparent lack of clothes. He looked back at Bill who only winked at him. Charlie closed his eyes with a resigned sigh, accepting his fate. 

A few minutes later Artemis finally got up and sealed the vial of dittany essence again before putting his wand away. Bill looked over at him and then raised one eyebrow gesturing towards Charlie. “Aren’t you going to give him his clothes back?”  
“You did see that they were covered in blood and dirt, right? Besides, given the state that they were in I doubt they would cover up much. I know your sense of fashion has always been a little special but this seems a bit extreme, even for you.” It was now Artemis’ turn to raise an eyebrow. “Don’t you have something you could lend him?,” Artemis asked.  
Bill had the decency to look sheepish. “Right sorry, that was kinda stupid. I will bring you some fresh clothes, too.” He and Fleur had been staying at the burrow for the last few days so he now hurried up to his old room to grab some fresh clothes for them.

“I messed up huh? Sorry that you had to make sure that I don’t get killed while trying not to die yourself” Charlie looked up at Artemis with a troubled look on his face. Artemis shook his head and fiddled with the vial in his hand. “Wasn’t your fault Charlie, I shouldn’t have brought you with me in the first place. You expertise in keeping dragons in check, not humans.” Artemis had started to turn away while he was speaking, which left Charlie staring at his back. 

Fred and George pressed the extendable ear closer between them. They had followed the conversations and it had already been hard enough to understand everything due to the fact that a lot of the conversation had been nonverbal. That Artemis had become progressively quieter over his last few sentences made things only more complicated. The extendable ears barely picked up the sound of his voice so the twins in response had to cram together even closer. They exchanged a look, both thinking that this had taken a different turn from what they had expected. They originally only wanted to know what had happened but now it almost felt like they were intruding into something. 

Back down in the living room Charlie scoffed. Now that his head was clear enough to let him think straight again and Artemis wasn’t looking at him he had enough time to examine the outcome of the evening. He did not like what he saw. The part of Artemis hair he could see looked as if Artemis had been out flying in the middle of a storm but even then his hair normally looked more tamed than it looked right now. Some of it probably came from the now dried snow which had temporarily wetted his hair and now caused it to stick up in odd places. Other than that his robes had stopped smoking, not that much was left of them. Charlie could clearly see the black pants and the grey and blue sweater Artemis had been wearing underneath his robes earlier. Both of them had cuts in them in various places but he could only see his skin shining through some of them. Which had to mean that the dark spots blocking the view of his skin in the others were dried blood. “Did you heal yourself?” Charlie asked, worry laced into his voice. He again tried to move himself in the hopes that he could at least catch a quick look on Artemis’ face but wasn’t able to do so. Artemis really stood turned away at the perfect angle. He sighed silently as Artemis didn’t answer. “If you don’t let me take the blame then please stop blaming yourself, too. It was my choice to come with you and you know that I would have gone crazy if you hadn’t let me.” 

Bill took that moment to reappear with fresh clothes but stopped once he saw Charlie’s pleading look and Artemis’ blank face. Upon noticing his brother, Charlie gestured towards Artemis and mouthed, “Please do something”. The fact that he still couldn't get up displeased him greatly. Bill held up the clothes and turned to Artemis. “Fancy some tea? I’m sure mom can’t wait to hear what you have been up to lately. You haven’t been here in forever and I don’t think you ever met Fleur,” Bill said with a hopeful smile.  
Artemis looked like he wanted to do nothing more than decline. “I guess I can stay for a cup.”  
Bill nodded, obviously pleased with himself. “You can take a shower if you want before joining us. I am dying to know how you got here. Especially since we put the wards up. And you should really take care of your wounds.”  
Artemis blanched as Bill mentioned the wards. “What wards are you talking about exactly?”  
“The anti-apparition-wards Dad and I activated around the house,” Bill said, looking at Artemis with a quirked eyebrow.  
Behind them Charlie’s jaw dropped.  
Artemis closed his eyes, if he had been standing close enough to a wall he would have hit his head against it, cursing his luck. “I see that I am not getting out of this one, I shall take you up on that shower.” Artemis grabbed the clothes Bill still held out to him and left the room.  
Fred and George let go of the extendable ear, turning towards each other. 

\------------------

Artemis closed the bathroom door behind him, leaning against it. He gingerly touched his side and inhaled sharply. The bloody wards he hadn’t known about certainly had tried to keep him from getting inside them. Before Bill had mentioned them he had thought that he simply was a little too careless as he disapparated, more focused on getting Charlie back in one piece than himself. Now he wished that had been true. What had the instructor from the ministry had told them about apparition again, back in his sixth year? Something about the three golden D’s? ‘Destination, Determination and Deliberation’ Yes, Artemis thought bitterly, he definitely had shown determination apparating straight into a warded area. It came with a price.  
Shrugging of his robe he peered down at his side. The once grey material was now a dark red and gently tugging at it let him know that it would hurt to get out of his sweater. Despite all the pride Artemis usually took in the fact that he had never splinched himself before, right now he wished it would have been a simple splinch.  
While he was separating his sweater from the wound he tried to remember what he knew about injuries caused through wards. Even with his pain clouded mind he soon came to the realization that it depended on the specific ward, it’s use and the caster. The stronger the caster’s magic was, the stronger was the ward, theoretically. Now the Weasley were nowhere close to the level of Dumbledore when it came to magical power but Bill was a curse-breaker and therefore knew quite a few things about wards. He could only count himself lucky that it only had been wards against apparition and nothing more. Careless tampering with wards often led to nothing less but missing limbs or death. Still, the wound he discovered, after finally getting his sweater off, was deep. A chunk of his flesh had been ripped out and since he had reopened it while separating his sweater from it, it was bleeding again. He wouldn’t be able to shower like this.  
After contemplating what he should do now he decided to apply some of the dittany on his other wounds first. He cleaned them as good as he could before applying some of the essence on them. The piece of cloth in his mouth would hopefully cover whatever sound of pain might escape him.  
Once he had finished taking care of his minor injuries, including the ‘nasty’ gash on his arm, he was left to once again stare at his side. By now his face was pale and his forehead glistened with sweat.  
Artemis pressed his lips together and applied the dittany to his wound. He almost screamed in pain, pressing his eyes together tightly. Merlin that hurt! After calming his breath and applying another layer of dittany he casted a silent ‘Ferula’ to bandage it.  
In the end he did not shower, he washed his hair and used a washcloth for the rest of his body, getting rid of most of the grime. 

Then he came back into the dining room, hair back into it’s usual wavy glory, he saw that the rest had once again gathered around the table. They all turned to look at him and silently watched as he took a seat next to Charlie, who had carefully moved himself from the couch to the table. Contrary to the current situation it made an amusing picture. Charlie who was naturally built a bit more bulky than Bill and whose work with the dragons only added some muscles had Bill’s shirt practically clinging to his frame. Artemis on the other hand was tall and lean, standing at 6’2” he had a couple of inches on both of the brothers. With that in mind Bill had picked the biggest sweater he could find for him and so while sitting down he looked like the sweater was trying to swallow him up, slightly hanging off on one shoulder. It only added to his charm. 

Bill, sitting directly in front of him next to Fleur, was in the perfect spot to look at him and therefore noticed the pale tone of his skin fairly quickly. Given that Artemis skin was usually sun kissed, from all the hours he spent outside, it wasn’t hard to notice. His amber coloured eyes, which looked like liquid gold under the right light, were slightly glazed over from the pain. In short, he looked physically worse than he had before Bill concluded, frowning. The little scratches were gone and he could no longer see the gash due to the sweater but he must have been right to assume that it hadn’t been the only bigger wound. He took the teapot and poured some of it into a cup before placing it in front of Miles.  
“Now would you care to enlighten us how you were able to apparate inside the wards?”  
Artemis reached for the cup, closing his fingers around it. For a moment he thought about what he should say, settling on an answer he finally met Bill’s eyes. “It took a lot of determination and a clear destination in mind. My deliberation might have been a bit sloppy though, I will admit.”  
Bill narrowed his eyes slightly, ignoring Charlie’s snort. “Would you do me the favour of actually answering my question and stop reciting the ground rules for apparition? We are well aware of how the basics work, and please refrain from using one of your silly comebacks.”  
Artemis was somewhat disappointed but decided against pushing Bill, one must treat carefully if he was annoyed. “I was actually being serious. I doubt that I would have breached the wards without using the amount of determination I did, not that I knew that they were there. As well as the fact that if I hadn’t known what the house looked like I’m sure the wards would have sliced me in half, rather than only ripping a chunk of my flesh out of my side,” Artemis muttered the last part with a displeased frown on his face.  
Charlie’s head, being the only one close enough to hear the last part, whipped around to look at him. “What do you mean ‘ripping out a chunk of flesh out of your side’?”.  
Suddenly Artemis’ pale skin made a lot more sense to Bill. “You have lost too much blood, that’s why you are so pale,” Bill said while quickly getting up and disappearing up the stairs.  
Artemis could still feel Charlie looking at him but didn’t meet his eyes, he would quite surely be angry at him for not saying anything sooner. He rather continued to stare at his tea, watching the water surface getting disturbed by his movements of the cup.  
“But there isn’t actually a whole chunk missing, right? More like a wider spread wound?” Fred asked with a curious look on his face.  
Mrs. Weasley seemed ready to open her mouth to undoubtedly scold him but Artemis had turned his head towards Fred. “No, chunk as in actual missing chunk.”  
Fred’s eyes widened slightly and his face took on a look between mildly disturbed and fascinated. “Sounds painful.” He exchanged a look with George.  
“You two better not be thinking about trying it out yourselves,” Charlie said, looking at the two mischief makers.  
“We would never, how could you think we would do something like that?” they both spoke simultaneously with matching looks of pure innocence.  
Charlie shook his head and turned back to Artemis to keep an eye on him. He knew that he could trust Artemis with knowing his own limits but still, he wasn’t sure that he had ever seen him so pale. 

As Bill came back down the stairs and handed Artemis a blood replenishing potion Mrs. Weasley turned to Charlie and him. “I think it would be best if you two stayed the night. Artemis, dear, you are clearly hurt and I’m not sure if you should risk apparating in your state.” She put her eyes on her second eldest son. “And you are almost never home anyway, surely you don’t have to leave to go back to Romania for another night.”  
Charlie shifted uncomfortably and didn’t meet his mother’s eyes as Mrs. Weasley realized the error in his sudden arrival.  
“Why exactly did Artemis bring you back here in the first place, if you were in Romania?”  
Charlie cleared his throat and took a quick glance at Artemis before he opened his mouth to answer her, “That’s because I haven’t been in Romania for… the last two weeks.” He looked like he dearly wished to be somewhere, anywhere else but sitting in his family’s dining room and telling his mother he had been in the country for two whole weeks and didn’t visit.  
Bill’s initial surprise morphed into amusement and he snorted at his brother’s miserable face. Everyone at the table knew just how important Mrs. Weasley thought family was and how much she hated that Charlie worked so far away. That he hadn’t visited sooner while he had been in the country could only end badly for him.  
“And where exactly did you stay for the last two weeks?” Mrs. Weasley’s voice was sickeningly sweet.  
If possible, Charlie appeared to be even more uncomfortable now. “I, um, well … you know, places?” He tried to make himself less noticeable but with his muscular form in between Harry and Artemis he had no chance.  
“Places?! What kind of ‘places’ are you talking about Charles? You have been back in the country for two weeks, didn’t think to visit once and now you are telling me you stayed at-” Mrs. Weasley looked visibly outraged now but before she could continue Artemis had stood up.  
Prior to his sudden change in position he had downed the vial of blood replenishing potion Bill had given him and his face had regained some of its colour. “I must thank you for your kind offer Mrs. Weasley but I will have to decline, I still have quite a few things to attend to. Also, Charlie stayed with me over the last two weeks, I’m sorry he couldn’t visit earlier but his presence in the country wasn’t exactly known. He helped me with something which unfortunately led to this evening's events. If you will excuse me, I shall take my leave now.”  
Before he could turn away Charlie grabbed his arm. “Mom’s right, you shouldn’t apparate.” He looked him in the eyes, hoping Artemis would agree.  
Of course Artemis didn’t, Charlie really should have known, he could see the argument in his eyes before Artemis had even opened his mouth. Deciding that he didn’t want to hear whatever Artemis was going to answer, because eventually Artemis would win anyway, Charlie grabbed the front of his sweater and pulled him down. Artemis only had enough time to let out a surprised gasp before Charlie crashed their lips together. “I will see you later?”  
“Um yea, you- you know how to get in.” Artemis blinked and cleared his throat, still clearly thrown off guard. Charlie nodded and let go of his sweater which made Artemis almost crash face first into the table, having lost his balance and only catching himself at the last second. While he straightened himself he saw that Bill had a wide grin on his face and once he saw that Artemis looked at him, he winked. “Took you two long enough.” Artemis rolled his eyes. “You are the worst”. He started to go towards the door. “Oi I am your best friend, who are you calling the worst?” Bill tried to get up as Artemis opened the door, but before he could take a step Artemis made a gesture with his hand which caused Bill to stumble as his shoe laces laced themselves together. With all the grace of a drunk flobberworm he was sent to the ground. The room fell silent before Charlie threw his head back, roaring with laughter. In the midst of this the door fell close. Artemis was gone, the only sign that he had been there the footprints left in the snow. 

\--------------------------

Charlie felt everyone’s eyes on him and slowly stopped laughing.  
“Alright Fred, I want my five galleons,” George said grinning at his twin. Fred sighed and reached into his pocket with a disappointed look on his face, giving George the gold.  
Charlie stared at them. “What did you two bet on?”  
George turned to him with a grin. “On you, dear brother. Two Galleons on that you are into guys and three on the fact that you were already seeing someone.” Charlie gaped at them.  
Fred spoke up next, “ I said that you were asexual and the only thing that interested you were your dragons. Can’t believe that I was so wrong” He shook his head.  
“How did you ever think that was true? Even back in school Charlie’s crush on Artemis was painfully obvious,” Bill said with an amused look on his face.  
Charlie started to blush. “It was not that obvious. Stop spreading your lies”  
Bill’s grin only widened and Charlie realized his mistake. “You didn’t say that you did not have a crush on him though.”  
Charlie only groaned. “Would you shut up already?”  
Before Bill could say more, Ms. Weasley finally seemed to have found her voice again. “Charles Weasley!” her angry voice made Charlie duck his head. “HOW DARE YOU-” At her words his body went rigid and he didn’t look into her direction. The rest of the family, including Harry, Hermione and Fleur stared at Ms. Weasley. Bill looked ready to defend his brother but Ms. Weasley continued with, “-to not say anything sooner. I am really disappointed, if I had known that you two were together I would have invited him to dinner.” She stopped and Charlie started to relax but Ms. Weasley’s eyes had widened in realization. “He vanished your clothes in the living room. I-”  
“MOM!” Charlie dropped his head onto the table, ears bright red.  
“Mom he was unconscious, please,” Bill said with an exasperated sigh.  
“That only makes it worse!” Ms. Weasley looked ready to explode. The twins behind her back were stifling their laughter.  
“Oh my god mom I was with them. Artemis only healed him, nothing happened. What are you thinking” Bill had a light blush on his face.  
Finally Ms. Weasley calmed down. She nodded. “You are right Bill, I overreacted but don’t you think I will leave the two of you alone in a room anymore Charlie. ”Charlie only moaned humiliated.  
For a moment everything was silent before Ron decided to open his mouth. “Wait so how do you two even…?” he looked seriously confused.  
Fred and George finally lost it, their laughter filling the room and soon after Bill joined them, leaning against the table and laughing about Charlies’ miserable form.  
“Ronald continue that thought and I will use you as the next meal for one of my dragons.” The threat didn’t come across as scary as Charlie had wished since his face was still as red as his hair. 

In the end Mrs. Weasley thought, this years Christmas would stay in her memory for a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed the story. I know it's a bit early for a Christmas story but since Christmas is mentioned about twice in this whole thing, I guess that's fine.  
> Which house do you think Artemis was in?


End file.
